Within the Apple 8D

*****

Taylor looked up as the door opened, her eyes widened as she recognized the Cape from the night before as he stepped in. He glanced her over briefly before looking over to her father and smiling pleasantly.

“Ah, Mr Hebert, a pleasure to see you again.”

“Um, yes of course… Mr Magus?”

“Just call me Xander,” The Cape, Magus, said cheerfully. “I’m not one to stand on formalities. Your local cape culture is quaint and amusing, but I’m really not into it.”

Her Dad looked confused, but nodded affably, “Of course, well… Xander. Uh, what brings you by, if I might ask?”

“Of course, really I just stopped by to check up on Taylor here,” Xander said casually as he slipped a… stick? Into his hand from… somewhere? “May I?”

Her Dad looked confused as the Cape gestured to his stick as though asking permission for… what?

“Uh… sure, I guess?”

*****

Xander instantly flicked his wand out, carefully putting muffliato charms on every surface of the room.

“There, we’ll be secure now,” He said, satisfied, as he slipped his wand away.

“Secure?” Taylor blurted, eyes wide.

“From any eavesdropping, whether electronic or even someone listening in at the door,” Xander told her. “Just a simple privacy charm, don’t worry it’s not harmful.”

“Why did you feel the need for that?” Danny asked sternly, rising from his seat.

“Just looking to protect Taylor here,” Xander said with a nod to the bed ridden girl.

“M… me?” She squeaked, eyes somehow widening more.

“You remember what happened last night?”

“In the Locker? No, she doesn’t,” Danny said bluntly.

Xander just looked at Taylor.

“You mean here,” She said, “When I woke up.”

He nodded.

“I won’t tell anyone!” She blurted, panicking. “I swear, I won’t tell anyone! Please don’t hurt…”

Danny, upon hearing his daughter’s panicked voice, didn’t even pause to think. He just charged, intent on removing the threat even as Taylor threw out her hands.

Xander felt the magic surge building and stepped into Danny’s charge, grabbing him and twisting around as the burst of magic erupted from Taylor right toward them both.

“Protego!”

The shimmering shield snapped into place just in time to stop the blast a few inches from Danny and Xander.

“Easy now,” Xander said warningly, speaking to both of them. “This isn’t about that. I’m not here to hurt you, Taylor. If I wanted to do that, I would have handled it last night.”

Taylor was barely listening, if she heard him at all. Instead, she was staring in shock at her hands.

“I… how?”

“Taylor?”

Xander rose back up, helping Danny to his feet. The balding man pulled away, eyeing Xander distrustfully but looked more toward his daughter.

“Taylor, are you… ok?”

“She’s fine,” Xander answered. “Just a panic attack, though I honestly don’t know what set it off. I didn’t do anything badlast night…?”

She whispered something he couldn’t quite pick out.

“Huh?” Xander cocked his head, “Sorry didn’t catch that?”

“You need to speak up, little owl,” Danny said, torn between being concerned about the Cape and both amused and worried by his daughter’s hesitance.

“He mastered people, Dad.”

Danny shot Xander a look, taking an involuntary step back.

“Mastered?” Xander asked, frowning before his expression cleared, “Ah. Power classification, yes I read about those. Technically, I suppose that’s true. It was very mild though, just to protect you from having your powers revealed.”

“Her… powers?”

Xander smiled ruefully at Danny, “Magic and electronics don’t always play well together. It wasn’t a short that blew out the machine last night, it was Taylor.”

“Magic.”

“Call it whatever you like,” Xander shrugged, now well familiarized with the locals reaction to the word magic. “You have powers, and like I said, local cape culture is not something I care about, but you might, so I covered your little accident. That’s the good news.”

Danny stiffened, “What’s the bad?”

“She needs training, or it’ll keep happening.” Xander said heavily. “Not sure how it happened, I’ve not yet seen anyone else with powers like mine locally… but I know the signs. Where I’m from, a school would have snapped her up when she turned eleven, just to ensure that she wasn’t a threat to people around her.”

“A… threat?”

“It’s not that big a deal, but until your trained up a bit, your power will act to protect you. That’s not a bad thing, but it can’t always tell a real threat from just a scare,” Xander explained. “A little training will teach you how to channel it better.”

“I… I’m a Cape?” Taylor blinked uncertainly.

“Eh,” Xander waggled his hand. “You have powers. Technically, by local culture I think that makes you a Parahuman. You’re not a Cape until you put underwear on the outside of your clothes and go out looking for criminals to beat up.”

Taylor shot him a wide eyed look that was a hilarious mixture of horror and censure, while Danny choked as he tried to keep from laughing.

“Dad!”

“Sorry, Little Owl,” Danny told her. “Your mother once explained the difference pretty close to that.”

She sighed, looking much put upon.

“How does she get this… training?” Danny asked growing serious again. “You mentioned a school? I’ve never heard of a Parahuman school, unless you mean one of the facilities for people with out of control powers… if that’s what you mean…”

His fist was coming up slowly, clenched tight until the skin around the knuckles was bone white.

“Don’t know about any of those,” Xander waved him off casually. “And no, my schools are… too far away to be an option. If I’m right about her powers, which we’ll test out to be sure, I’ll provide training as well as whatever supplies she needs.”

Danny glared at him, eyes narrowed, “She is my daughter, Mr Magus. I don’t need charity, and offers like that always have strings.”

“My culture is quite firm on certain matters, Mr Hebert,” Xander said. “An Apprentice is the responsibility of the Master. This is not charity, nor is it anything inappropriate if that’s your concern. It’s just practical. Training someone in my powers means that everything they do with it, is on my ledger, so to speak.”

“I… don’t know about this.”

“You can think about it, but seriously,” Xander said earnestly. “The first time she panics in public, it’s not going to go well.”

Danny blanched white, and Taylor had wide eyes and a look of concern on her face.

“Besides, with the way this world is going, she’s going to want the power backing her up before long,” Xander shook his head. “Some of you people are crazy here.”

“You keep talking like that…” Taylor said slowly. “Like you’re not from here?”

Xander smirked at her, “I do, don’t I?”

“Where are you from?”

“Would you believe that you’re the first person here to ask that?” He complained. “I mean, I’m not being subtle about it or anything.”

Danny tensed, “Earth… Aleph?”

“Read about that, but no. Quite a bit farther out,” Xander said. “We don’t use your naming convention. Most universes have their own, once they discover alternate realities. Most call themselves from variation of Earth Prime or whatever… Did Aleph discover you guys? I was wondering how you got saddled with the name Bet?”

Danny shrugged, slightly dazed, “I don’t know.”

“Eh, maybe I’ll find out later. Not that it’s the weirdest thing I’ve run into,” Xander admitted. “Last universe I was in called themselves Earth 616. I still haven’t got a clue where they came up with that number.”

“But you’re… from an alternate Earth? Seriously?” Taylor asked, shocked. “And we have similar powers?”

“Yeah, that one is throwing me too,” Xander admitted with a frown. “I do not know how that happened. How I found you… you threw out a surge of magical energy last night, knocked me right out of the sky… but there was something… inhuman mixed in too. Never felt anything like it.”

Danny bristled, “If you’re accusing my daughter of…”

Xander just shook his head, waving off the concern, “If anything I’m more worried about her. I don’t know where Parahuman powers come from, but some of the signs I’ve seen are similar to Contacted powers… and that’s… concerning.”

“Contracted?” Taylor asked, confused.

Danny just looked scornful, “Don’t try to sell me that bullshit about Parahumans being in league with the devil or demons or whatever…”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Xander said. “If it were that, I’d have already spotted it. Infernal contracts are not hard to spot once you start looking for them. Plus, no one can be forced into an Infernal Contract… you have to sign off your soul willingly and while they cantrick you, they can’t put your under duress. No, this is… more of a Planar thing. I don’t know for sure, as I said, I just know that whatever the source… it’s unhuman, powerful, and…”

Xander frowned, shaking his head.

“And?” Taylor prompted, curious.

Xander sighed, “And… kinda stupid… maybe? I don’t know how to describe it. The feeling was… I don’t know, it’s just strange. I don’t know enough to say yet.”

His phone beeped, causing him to draw it out and flick through the notifications.

“Ah, the PRT has put together the samples I asked for so they could do their little testing procedures,” He said before looking back to them. “Think about what I said, I’ll check in with you later. Taylor, try to remain calm. No panic attacks, alright?”

She nodded, looking chagrined.

Xander looked at Danny firmly, handing him a card. “Here, my number’s on it. If anything happens, call me immediately. Sometimes, putting things back to rights after accidental magical outbursts can be time sensitive. Don’t hesitate.”

Danny took the card, looking like it might bite him, but nodded after a moment.

“Alright, get better, Taylor… I’ll see you both later.” He said, waving as he left.

*****